FBC Community Top 20 OF - #4: Matt Holliday, #5: C. Beltran

[The Artful Dodger]

1. Grady Sizemore
2. Ryan Braun
3. Josh Hamilton
4. Matt Holliday
5. Carlos Beltran

This should get interesting...

[WaCougMBS]

I went Holliday by a hair here - I don't think Beltran will top .280 again and the boost in BA is enough to edge Holliday past him IMO...

[hybrid]

BJ, and um no bias there ...

[Eagle Baseball]

I went Manny. I'm afraid of Hollidays home/away split. Whoever signs Manny is going to be a contender so he will be in a loaded linup. I fully understand Holliday/Beltran support but imo Manny is still a hitting machine.

[Omaha Red Sox]

Holliday.

[DaShiz23]

Beltran, but at this point in a re-draft, it could go in many directions.

[pokerplaya]

I'll take the .280 25/25 out of Beltran here.

[RedSoxNation04]

Voted Holliday here but I think its splitting hairs really. I could easily have gone with Beltran or Soriano and I think, by the end of the season, Upton will prove that he belongs in the conversation.

[Snakes Gould]

beltran for me. no way im touching holliday here.

[Dan Charette]

I went with Holliday. I do think that ballparks make a difference , but I believe who's pitching against you makes a bigger difference.

Here's the NL west's projected starting pitchers. ( Excluding the Rockies )
Arizona ; Webb, Haren, Davis , Scherzer, and Garland
San Fran ;; Lincecum, Cain, Johnson, Sanchez, and Zito
LA ; Billingsley, Kuroda, Kershaw, Schmidt , Stults
San Diego ; Peavy , Young, Baek, Geer, LeBlanc

Here's the AL West's
Seattle ; Felix, Bedard, Morrow ,Washburn, Silva,
Texas ; Millwood, Padilla, McCarthy, Harrison, Feldman
LA Angels ; Lackey, Santana, Weaver, Saunders, Mosely

The NL West has 4 of the top 8 pitchers in baseball ( According to recent cafe threads )
Lincecum, Peavy, Webb, and Haren .
Then there's Billingsley, Cain, and Young for some other real good pitchers.
Then there's Kuroda who's pretty good.
Then Kershaew, Scherzer, and Sanchez for power pitchers with upside who should get better this year.
These 11 pitchers will be owned in 12 team fantasy leagues.

Now let's go to the AL West.
We have 0 pitchers in the top 8
Then we have Lackey, Santana, Felix and Bedard who are real good.
Then there's Morrow who has real nice upside.
Then Weaver and Saunders
That's 7 pitchers who will be owned in 12 team leagues.

So in the AL West there's 4 less pitchers who are worthy of a 12 team roster spot . And there's no elite pitchers.
If you were a batter , which group of pitchers would you rather face ?

Then for the argument of Holliday away from Coors. More batters hit better at home than on the road. So looking at Holliday's numbers away from Coors , doesn't factor in that he will be at home when he's at The A's ballpark. You can't just look at the numbers away from Coors , being how he will hit at home at McAfee.

No doubt he'll miss Coors, but I think he'll see weaker pitching so that should offset some of the negative about him not being home at Coors.
I've made my argument.

Dan the Bluesman